1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an autonomous mobile device that autonomously moves to a destination.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, an autonomous mobile device stores, in advance, map information showing the configuration and layout of the environment, and uses this map information and peripheral measuring results of a sensor to autonomously move to a destination while avoiding obstacles (for example, refer to Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-157625). The autonomous mobile device described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-157625 stores, in addition to the map information, information on concave portions on which the autonomous mobile device can travel so as to avoid concave portions which become an obstacle on the travel surface, and is stopped when a concave portion that is not included in the map information is detected by a sensor while the autonomous mobile device is traveling.
Meanwhile, there are cases in which an autonomous mobile device is required to autonomously execute tasks such as boarding an elevator or docking to a charging station. Normally, these tasks are executed within an environment containing obstacles that are not included in the map information; for instance, moving obstacles such as people and cardboard boxes which are temporarily placed. Thus, the autonomous mobile device needs to execute the foregoing tasks while avoiding these obstacles.
Nevertheless, if the setting is such that the autonomous mobile device is stopped when an obstacle, which is not included in the map information, is detected, as with the autonomous mobile device described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-157625, there is a possibility that the execution of the task will be frequently canceled. For example, when the autonomous mobile device is to execute the task of boarding an elevator, even if the execution of the task is re-tried after once canceling the boarding process as a result of detecting a person in the elevator, so as long as someone is in the elevator, the execution of the task will be canceled. In the foregoing case, there is a possibility that much time will be required to complete the task.
Even in cases where there are obstacles that are not included in the map information, the task can be completed quickly if it is possible to take action that is suitable for executing that task in accordance with the situation.